record wind

Hurricane Debbie over the Atlantic on September 13th, 1961. Image from Wikiwand

Of all the Irish windstorms in living memory, Debbie in September 1961 set many records that still stand to this day. With a total death-toll of 78 (18 in Ireland and 60 in a plane crash in Cape Verde), it left a path of destruction in its wake. It has been claimed that this storm was the only true hurricane to survive as far north as Ireland, but this is not the case. Hurricanes, in the true sense of the word, simply cannot hold onto their tropical characteristics throughout the long trek this far north, and Debbie was no different. It is possible for us to get regular storms with hurricane-force winds, but they are a different beast altogether. So what was Debbie then?